Handing his Rawk Special to an overweight Rodian, Cade said, "You lose that and I garuntee you I'll find it AND you," he muttered - shoving past the bodyguard Cade glanced down at R2-D2 when the little droid twittered at him and grinned, "They're idiots," he said, "Who'd figure a droid for having a weapons-chute in it?" glancing up into the rafters, Cade wondered if his Jedi partner had come in through the roof and was up there now... or was he in the crowd. Glancing around, Cade could neither sense nor see his partner... good.

If he could see him, someone else probably could.

Approaching the bar, Cade flopped down onto a stool and nodded at R2 - who wheeled quietly over to the far wall and squatted down low. Banging on the counter, Cade shouted, "Bartender?! Bartender!!" when the skinny red Twi'lek woman at the far end of the bar just kept wiping her glass, Cade held out his hand and suddenly his Lightsaber hilt 'appeared' in it. Slamming it down onto the counter, Cade smirked as the bartender spun around, "Ah! Jedis! I had no ideas! What can I do for you noble jedis?" looking the woman up and down, Cade said, "Tarisian Ale - in a clean glass," nodding, the Twi'Lek set the glass she'd been cleaning down on the counter and began filling it, "Of course! Of course! Is there anything else I could do for you, noble jedis?"

Shaking his head, Cade said, "I ain't a Jedi - just a guy with a Lightsaber and a few questions," the Twi'lek nodded, sliding Cade his glass, "Oh of course! Many peoples have them!" taking a sip of the ale, Cade cocked an eyebrow, "Lightsabers?" the Twi'lek blinked and giggled strangely, "Oh no! Questions!" nodding slowly, Cade said, "I'm here about a Garbage Hauler known as Baru Reela, you heard of her?" the bartender nodded, "Why yes sirs! She handles even this bar - hauls our garbages! Out of sights out of minds we says - she always prompts and on times, never any complaints from us about-"

Cade waved that away, "Spare me the sales-pitch - I ain't lookin to hire her,I want to find her," staring at Cade, the Twi'lek raised a brow and leaned in close to him. Her ample cleavage pushing against the bar and giving Cade a bit of a show, she let her left lekku slide down over the bar and said softly, "Truly's?" Cade - by now aware she was trying to scam him - simply replied, "Truly's," when he just met her stare, the Twi'Lek seemed irritated - as if she'd expected more, before she straightened up and - giggling strangely again - said, "You wait here, I'll go get her for ya,"

Approaching the drinks control panel in the middle of her station, the Twi'Lek flipped a switch... and the blast shield encircling the bar slid down. Backing away in irritation, Cade rolled his eyes when a gruff voice pushed the barrel of his Rawk Special against his back, "Hold it, mate!" smirking to himself, Cade said, "Just shoot me, huh? There's more of you than me... just pull the trigger," chuckling, the thug said, "Glady!" there was click as the gun refused to fire - several more clicks sounded before Cade spun around and fired a blast of force lightning to the thugs face. Catching the Rawk Special as the thug went down, Cade spun to face the six or seven other thugs rising to meet him and said, "Hold it!"

Noticing the bodyguard near the door, Cade said, "You might wanna try your luck with that belly gun... but then, you might not," as he and the bodyguard stared at each other, Cade waited until the bodyguards hand went for the gun in his belt and then cracked off a shot from the Rawk special that tore the bodyguards leg right off, "That's what I figgered... R2!" with a loud fwoosh the room was suddenly filled with a cloud of smoke as blaster fire opened up and thugs started shooting each other AND Cade, "Yo Jedi! Now might be a good time!" Cade shouted as he fired another shot at a thug and then spun to hit the next nearest thug with his lightsaber, "I aim to misbehave down here!"

Deliah, What the hell is goin' on in the engine room? Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?

Kaz had gotten into the place like any sane being would. By walking straight through the front door of a place of business. He'd even left getting past the doorman to the simplest possible methodology, opening his robe as he walked up to allow the Rodian to see his belt, and applied a simple perception to the being through the Force. The perception? There was absolutely nothing threatening on Kaz's utility belt, nothing more sinister than the oddly shaped glow rod sheathed on his left hip. "I have no weapons.""He don't have no weapons." The being croaked in it's buzzing language to the security box, causing the door to open smoothly.

Having gone in well ahead of his unfortunate assigned partner Kaz was supposed to find someplace unobtrusive, the suggestion... nay, expectation being that Kaz would be hanging about the rafters like some sort of rodent. The young Corellian wasn't above such a thing, certainly, but he wasn't going to do it for the fun. Instead, and much to his enjoyment, he merely raised his hood and ordered a drink strong enough to kill whatever biological might be lingering on the glass it was served in, then retired to a booth that everyone in the place immediately forgot ever existed. If there was anything Kaz was good at and the illusion of avoidance was one of the easiest to apply to multiple beings at once.

It didn't take long before the 'Skywalker' came strutting into the place, looking around the place for Kaz like a rube. Even glancing into the rafters. He didn't know if Cade realized it but the act immediately brought more than one table's attention to him. At least the guy never claimed to be a Jedi, that would have ruined the reputation of Jedi everywhere in short order. The girl at the counter was... smarter than she pretended to be. Her thoughts were simple enough but she was angling for a hook from the moment Cade had laid eyes on her, playing aloof and then immediately awed by Cade's show of having a Lightsaber. Kaz would have had her twisted up and leaning over a counter in the back in minutes, grunting out the information he needed amidst a tryst... why not?

The conversation lasted all of twenty seconds and the female started across the bar, her focus landing on the panel. Surely Cade sensed it coming... surely? If he did, he didn't do anything about it until a gun... Kaz did a double take. It was Cade's own weapon jammed into his spine. Oh brother. It was killing him, though the fact that the weapon wasn't apparently operational at least cast doubt on the ineptitude of the situation. The whole room lit up and Kaz couldn't help but be fascinated by the grave-train wreck like atmosphere of it all. It wasn't until Cade started calling for help that Kaz finally sighed. He drained his drink, stood, and revealed himself though nobody was looking to see him.

Two went down fast. Kaz merely strolled past them, touching a temple as he passed, and letting them drop to the ground with the overwhelming sense of relaxation that had been dropped on their minds like a wet blanket. The third caught wind of him before he could get close enough to touch, turning a blaster on Kaz and losing half the weapon along with a few fingers when Kaz countered with the sudden ignition of his white bladed lightsaber to perform a simple sun djem/cho mai combination maneuver. That one was suddenly very, very focused on his loss and effectively fell out of the fight with a shout of alarm. "Was this really necessary, Skywalker?"

To put emphasis on his question Kaz caught a stray blaster bolt with his bare hand and turned his palm at a fourth shooter, sending the man into a wall with sharp blast of TK. An example of one of his rarer abilities, it left his arm aching but it also meant he could wait for an answer without worrying about the remaining beings taking pot shots at him. The ache would go away after a few minutes.

Flipping into the air, Cade bent his knees as he landed and let his coat hang loose around his ankles as he stared the thugs down. Holding his Lightsaber in one hand, and spinning the Rawk Special in his other, Cade stood back to back with Halcyon and said, "Shut up 'n fight!" taking the next swing from a particularly big alien, Cade deactivated his Lightsaber as the punch came and (catching the arm with his hand) Cade jabbed the elbow with his hand and reduced the alien to a screaming wreck on the floor. Ducking under the swing from the vibro-sword that was aimed at his head, Cade swung his arm out and caught the vibro-sword armed alien with his fist right in the face.

Rolling backwards, Cade moved out of Halcyon's path and then charged a bulky thug... who grabbed a table and threw it right at Cade. Grabbing onto the table as it flew at him, Cade flipped into the air and (as he landed BEHIND the thug) he spun on his heel and sent the alien flying with a barrage of force lightning - just as a skinny thug with clawed gauntlets came flying at him. Grabbing the attacker with the force mid-flight, Cade spun her in the air and sent her flying head-first into a nearby wall...

Just in time for almost ten turrets to rise out of the wall and target them.

"R2!!" Cade shouted as the turrets opened fire - targeting him and Halcyon, "Time to earn your pay!" the blurp-tweet sound that came from the little droid made Cade growl, "I don't give a stang that you don't get paid! Just do something!" grabbing the table that had been thrown at him with the force, Cade held it in front of him to deflect blaster-bolts as he charged towards the nearest turret... just for his Lightsaber to bounce off harmlessly, "Phrik lined?!" Cade shouted in anger - dropping his 'cover' and flipping backwards, "Seriously?!?!" glancing at Halcyon, Cade shouted, "I think we'll have to find another way out of here!" glancing at R2, Cade shouted, "R2 you better be ready to fly us out of-"

At that moment the turrets twitched suddenly and began firing even faster - creating almost continuous beams of energy lancing straight at Cade and Halcyon - even managing to hit a few thugs that were trying to dodge them, "R2!!!" Cade yelled as he spun his Lightsaber so fast it became a blur - just trying to deflect bolts of energy, "C'mon! Shoot at me! HERE I AM!!" grinning like a madman, Cade charged the power-bank on the far wall - dodging at the last second, he grinned as the bank exploded and the lights dimmed, "They don't like it when you shout at 'em," he said to Halcyon - panting from exertion as the turrets tried to track them in the dark, "I worked that out myself,"

Suddenly the turrets LEDs began to glow green, "Heat seakers?!" Cade said with a groan, "Seriously?!" bringing his saber up as the turrets began to target him, Cade exhaled, "Here we go again..." and the turrets opened fire...

On the thugs.

Staring in surprise as the surviving thugs dropped like flies, Cade glanced at Halcyon and just gave him a half-smile of surprise as R2 deftly worked the turrets to end the threat from the thugs. When the last of them were dead or fleeing - the smoke from R2 and the corpses mostly clear, Cade said, "R2 you little rust bucket!" grabbing the little asto-droid, Cade gave R2 a noogie, "I never thought I'd say this to a droid - but if you ever wanna go out drinking-" grinning as the little droid tweeted and bleeped at him rudely, Cade let him go, "Ah you're no fun," walking over to the blast screen, noticed the scorch marks from where the turrets had hit it and scowled, "It's not lined with phrik like the turrets... but that's solid carbonite extract with flimsiplast plates worked right through... it'd take forever to burn through with our sabers..."

Tracing his gloved hand over the surface of the blast screen, Cade said, "Doubt she's got adequate ventilation inside... probably suffocate from all the smoke... hm... it's pretty cheaply made though - if I could find where the locking mechanism is I could blow it open with the force," he grinned, "Hey, we ain't got time for subtlety do we?" placing his hand against it, Cade began tracing his hand over the surface, "Gimme a second... the lock's gotta be down near the bottom of the blast screen... just gotta find the right... spot..."

Deliah, What the hell is goin' on in the engine room? Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?

Kaz glanced back over his shoulder as Cade told him to shut up and fight. "I actually find I am quite capable of talking and fighting at the same time but it's ok if you can't. I'll give you a stick of gum to chew while we walk back to the ship when this is all done, so you can start slow." The Corellian's lightsaber was still burning but it wasn't moving as he looked back to 'his' half of the room, shooting a hard expression at a guy who'd just pointed a blaster at him and causing the Duros to hesitate. The uncertainty, with a little nudge from Kaz, turned into the overwhelming urge to be somewhere, anywhere, else.

As that one ran off Kaz leaned forward to be outside the reach of the vibro-sword that Cade had merely ducked, rather than being aware of implication that he'd be protecting Kaz's back. Apparently, Kaz was merely a meat shield for Cade's back and he could deal with that once it was clear. Without a word, Kaz strode off through the smoke and din of battle. With all the noise and flash Cade created it was more than passingly easy to encourage hostile focus to simply pass him by as not as important a target. At least until turrets dropped down... now what in the galaxy had this place been expecting that such a heavy handed offensive measure had been deemed a good investment? That was almost a more fascinating question than the one Kaz had been ordered to answer. Almost.

Kaz claimed two more lives. He didn't strike them down personally but he watched them get cut in half by the streaming power of the auto cannons that were tracking him as he flashed across the tops of a line of booths. Enhanced by the Force he was fast enough to even keep his robe from getting hit but he had to concentrate on not getting caught between two streams of fire or accidentally leading more turrets to target Cade. He didn't know how much the guy could handle and Kaz was too polite to find out at just that juncture. When it all came to an end even Kaz was surprised, trotting to a stop with his lightsaber still up in an at guard position while figuring out what had changed. There was a long moment of mounting dread in the air and Kaz flourished his lightsaber once when the green lights came to life.

It wasn't until the weapons' first bolts began to emerge from their barrels that Kaz realized what was going on, much to his horror. "NO!" his outstretched hand was too late, unable to affect a change that would resolve anything. He couldn't even pushed the targeted beings down or out of the line of fire. The nature of being a Halcyon left him momentarily powerless before the vagaries of modern technology, even as the outrage he felt at the fact left him empowered to do something about it far too late. His arm dropped, too late would turn outrage into true rage and he couldn't go down that path. Even if he could think of several good reasons to. He merely noted the number of beings murdered without need and hung them around Cade Skywalker's neck in his mind.

He deactivated his lightsaber and moved toward the clear plate that separated them from a terrified looking female Twi'lek. Cade went on about shows of force to get to her and Kaz merely nodded absently. Kaz was busy focusing on the female herself. Insinuating his focus into her fear, slowly pushing the blinding emotion away and giving her at least a fleeting sense of security. His tendrils of thought ran along hers, passively looking into what she was thinking. An exit to the back, the route to the safety of her box of an apartment, where the locking mechanism was that Cade was working on locating, the inane attraction to Kaz's green eyes. It wasn't what Kaz wanted to know, so he changed her focus with a name. "Baru Reela."

That was that, even if she would never tell him out loud she still had the knowledge and she had to recall it before she could hide it. "Don't bother with the wall. Baru is in a warehouse. I don't have a clear point of reference but all we need to do is follow the garbage haulers, she works at their central command point. Sleep." The Twi'lek dropped slowly, ending up curled on the floor snoozing quietly. Kaz turned and moved for the door, pausing by the control panel there to set all the vents and doors to open and putting in an emergency signal to the Sector Rangers. Considering the world they were on Kaz had little hope there would be much to see by the time they arrived but Kaz didn't have time to explain it all, he would send them a report of what had happened when he got his mission squared away.

Glancing at the Twi'lek woman as she dropped into sleep, Cade raised an eyebrow and said, "Gotta give you Halcyon's credit... you know how to compensate," snapping his fingers, Cade waved for R2 to come over, "Alright bucket-boy, while you were hacking into the system - did you see anything about garbage haulers?" listening to the droids twittering reply, Cade nodded, "Completely automated droid-brains for the haulers? That's what they use?" scratching his chin, Cade glanced at Kaz, "Well, lets go dumpster diving,"

Leading the way out of the bar, Cade said, "No R2, I don't think Halcyon and I want to hop a ride in a dumpster - my father told me about you trapping my great grandfather in trash up to his neck," walking behind the building, Cade looked up at the skyline and sighed, "Alright, if all we have to do is follow the garbage haulers... then all we have to do is wait for one to arrive,"

Kneeling down next to R2, Cade pried open one of the little droids panels, "No, I'm not going to blow you up. Just hold still," a few sparks shot out of the droids servo-motor before his holo-projector activated and a layout of the bar appeared, "There we go... lets see..." kneeling down in front of the projection, Cade began tracing his finger over the hologram, "Those turrets were new additions... and phrik-lining is even more rare than cortosis, it only comes from select areas and the Empire mostly depleted it during the war with the rebels. So either we're dealing with someone whose got a frak-load of backing... or..."

With a flash, the hologram zoomed in on the projection of the turret mounts and Cade nodded, "Check this out Halcyon... R2's scan of these things says the phrik-alloy is pure - nothing added into the refining process due to storage or aging. Meaning whatever built them, wove the phrik in right off the assembly line," scratching his chin, Cade muttered, "Meaning someone on this planet has a huge stash of phrik and a factory capable of handling delicate construction processes," glancing at the Jedi, Cade smirked and said, "Looks like Reela doesn't just haul garbages,"

Deliah, What the hell is goin' on in the engine room? Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?

Kaz nodded. There was a grand power in being able to turn a person's inner thoughts against them, to pull out information that should have been as safe as unspoken. It was a power that had to be carefully used and avoiding terrifying the information out of her was a fine enough excuse to pull it from her mind without the darkness inherit in terror. "It seemed a prudent skill to develop at the moment I realized I couldn't Force Choke my way across the galaxy." He gave one last look to the terrible deaths in the room and pulled his robe closed around himself tightly. He then made his way outside and around the back of the building with Cade and the slaughter bot.

Keeping his robe pulled closed and held in place with one arm Kaz unfolded the other and tapped on the side of the dumpster. The sound was pretty standard but his eyes narrowed all the same. Kaz squatted down and tapped lower on the side of the dumpster and it made a different sound altogether. "I think I might have an idea of how she moves the extra materials as well. Her hauling, her containers. Simple as putting in the call for a clean one, or a replacement." Nobody would pay attention to a garbage hauler, certainly not on a world practically rife with it. The fact that anybody was calling one in the first place was all the strange one really tolerated in that situation.

"The turrets are concerning. After the Second Galactic Civil War there was a hard run on Corellia in used Storm Trooper armor, they'd break it down for the phrik to put off the heavy Jedi commando behavior in the shadow of... well, politics." He scratched his cheek and figured he was going to be up all night again. "Of course, that stuff was dirty. Very dirty. Palpatine could have hidden some phrik somewhere, even here." He stood and looked out into the night, narrowing his eyes against the darkness. "How long does the droid think this is going to take?"

Glancing at Kaz as he examined the dumpster, Cade made a face, "I'm guessin that ain't one of her shipments... or if it was, the stuff she's shippin has already been removed," shaking his head from the general 'ambiance' of Nar Shadda, Cade continued to examine the hologram R2 was projecting.

Watching Kaz get closer to the hologram, Cade pointed at the read-out, "I heard about the dark trooper project and the rush to create lightsaber-resistant weaponry after the first Empire collapsed. The CIS was bad enough about it, but phrik became harder to find than Cortosis... and this stuff is pure. If they've found a stash or a planet with the original ore-based version they're well connected... phrik is dangerous when its bein processed - burns almost as hot as thermite,"

Growling, Cade motioned for R2 to shut off the hologram, "I don't like this at all... I knew somethin was up when my sources told me about Baru - that's why I called the Jedi. But if the GA ain't doing this, and the Empire's too stretched takin back it's old space... that leaves one candidate, and I'm sick to spastin death of cleanin up after them," the very thought that the One Sith were processing phrik made Cade nervous (what with the fact that Phrik stood up to lightsabers and had even survived blasts from the death star) and the fact that they could be using it to perhaps profit and grow bigger...

That just pissed him off.

Kicking the dumpster, Cade muttered to himself again - glancing at Kaz when he asked how long this was going to take, "Should be any time now - that's why I went for the night insertion when Baru would be busy hauling 'garbages' and stuff... plus, they pick garbage up at this time of night so-" as he said that, the whirring sound of an air-speeder engine sounded and Cade grinned, "And here we go," backing away from the dumpster, Cade watched as a big bulky truck-like speeder descended from the sky. With a 'head' much like the old vulture fights from the Clone Wars, the garbage hauler clunked in some sort of droid-speak and then began picking up the dumpster, "R2?"

Listening to the droid's reply, Cade nodded, "Standard binary droid coding - more insect or animal-like than proper thinkin. Big 'n ugly over there won't care what we do as long as we don't try to stop it from it's job... meaning..." bending down next to R2, Cade said, "Think you could hack into it?" when the droid made a sound like a loud fart, Cade scowled, "It's a garbage-truck with a droids brain... this isn't like tryin to fly the Mynock - surely-" listening as the garbage hauler began to power up it's engines, Cade growled, "Okay, plan B," suddenly R2 hovered into the air and Cade (lifting the droid with the force) hauled him OVER the garbage hauler and dropped him down on top of it.

Listening to R2 squeal as the garbage hauler lifted into the air, Cade checked the readout on the scanner he pulled out of his pocket and winked at Halcyon, "Droid tracker - every astromech owner should have one, instant tracking device," listening to R2 bleep at him in something akin to swearing, Cade laughed, "You're the hero R2 - and Deliah isn't here. Just hang on and I'll get you off when we find Baru's warehouse," glancing at Kaz, Cade pointed after the garbage hauler as it flew away, "Hope you can keep up kid,"

And with that he was off following the read out on the droid scanner and R2's loud squealing from high above them.

Deliah, What the hell is goin' on in the engine room? Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?

"It might have been, might not. In order to keep up the illusion that she has taken advantage of sometimes she does actually have to simply move garbage. Otherwise it would get obvious, quick." Kaz said casually, a Corellian's expertise on all things smuggling. Obvious was bad, only doing something when it profited meant people knowing when you were being profitable. That led to people attempting to profit off your profit, and that led to unfortunate shootings one way or another. He missed Corellia.

Kaz snorted lightly at the mention of the Dark Trooper Project, he'd read about that one out of Battle Master Kyle Katarn's holocron entries. Considering the time period of the incident it had been almost as humorous as terrifying, at least in retrospect. "Only an Imperial would think it was a good idea to build a droid army to replace the living army that had just smashed a droid army. On Corellia they went another direction, developing weapons that stood an actual chance of striking one of us in full combat mode. Sonic weapons, gas, electricity, and the like." The only combat droid Kaz had ever come to dread were the YVH series and they hadn't lasted as a viable product much past the Vong War.

"There are reports from the last war of the One Sith having phrik lightsaber hilts from time to time... you don't think they had a legitimate supply and just never thought of a way to use it, do you?" Kaz sniffed the air, just in case, and shook his head. "Empire isn't as bad off as it's playing, they've been quietly ordering gunships from Corellian Engineering Corporation in twos and three's via planetary accounts along their outer rim holdings." Kaz gave Cade a smile. "My family is a major investor in CEC and I like to know who's buying what so I can watch for new pirate vessels before they hit the lanes. They've had decidedly less trouble reclaiming most of their forces after the end of the war than they let on, as well. The Mandalorian Sector was their only real loss... but now I'm rambling."

Kaz turned and stepped back until he was clear of the dumpster, watching the garbage hauler come in for its pick up. Tilting his head this way and that as he inspected the vehicle. It didn't dump the dumpster, that would be counter productive to the smuggling chamber on it. It had to carry it and that meant going straight back to home. Since the thing was between Kaz and Cade, and there was apparently no plan to simply jump aboard Kaz looked down the alley. What he saw brought a smirk to his face. He turned back and raised an eyebrow as Cade said something or other about being able to keep up. "We Halcyon's aren't known for our long range mobility... but I think I can manage." Kaz jogged over and jumped into the driver's seat of a hot pink speeder.

It took a moment of concentration but the activation code floated to the surface of his mind, the engine humming to life. "Looks like I got more than an address off our bartender."

Cade shrugged at Kaz's point about the Dark Trooper project, "Master K'Kruhk and my Dad said that by that time most of the clone's had died out or been replaced by flash-trained clones and regular press-ganged recruits. Hell, Palpatine's rumor mill and propaganda machine had rendered Clones just as much a 'wild story' as the Jedi - some things that shouldn't have been forgotten were. They had the right idea of bio-enhancin injured or crippled soldiers - good way to put training and ability to use despite a failin body. And nigh-invulnerable droids has a nice ring to it - those massacres against the rebels sure speaks to the idea... but it was the personal project of a ding-bat egotist - got so involved with it that he devoted the whole thing to destroyin some guy who wasn't gonna face him on even terms no matter WHAT he did," he shook his head, "I doubt the One Sith are trying to revive Dark Troopers - doesn't seem like Nihl's style... too obvious,"

He shrugged again, "Course, if I could predict Nihl he'd be dead now - and I wouldn't be chasing him all over the galaxy tryin NOT to tip my girlfriend off to the fact I ain't as retired as I'm 'sposed to be,"

Glancing at Kaz when he asked about the One Sith not bothering to put a good source to use, Cade shrugged, "Krayt was an idiot - he had an empire that could have crushed us and he spent it tryin to turn me and save himself. The very thing he feared the most - his empire fallin - he caused through his own stupidness," shaking his head, Cade said, "Nihl, Talon, the line of Wyyrlok's - they were the products of Krayt's empire. They're a lot more dangerous than Krayt ever was... and too smart to try and fight between each other. If Krayt had a power-base that he used to win the Emperor's support it was well hidden... we don't even know where those cyborgs of his came from - just that he completed them on Korriban,"

Shaking his head, Cade said, "The force knows what Nihl is doin with whatever Krayt had left... buildin an army sounds unlikely, but trickin others to fight us FOR him and providin the resources to do it... THAT sounds like somethin he'd do,"

Snorting at Kaz's comment about the Empire, Cade said, "I don't really care if the Empire could handle another war or not. If her Ladyship can keep that spastin moff council and the nobles from slitting any of our throats then I'll be satisfied - seems to me that'll be more of a job than anyone realizes after what they did to her father and the Imperial Knights," he shrugged at the mention of the Mandalorian sector falling out of the Empire's pocket, "They never controlled Fett's boys anyway - the mando's put up with outside governments as long as they profit from it and you don't try to tell them what to do," he smirked and tapped the mando-insignia on his chest-plate, "The mando I took this off of had a phrase for governments and groups like the Jedi, the Sith and the Imperial Knights... he called them target practice,"

Knowing full well that there would be guards at the warehouse and that R2 stood the best chance of not getting noticed, Cade figured that trying to catch a ride ON the garbage hauler was probably a bad idea

Unfortunately, he hadn't figured out how they were supposed to keep up on foot... at least not until Kaz caught him half-way down the block in a speeder.

"Seriously?" Cade shouted as he vaulted mid-step and landed with a plop in the speeder, "You couldn't find one a bit more masculine?" pressing a trigger on the door, Cade grinned as the door unfolded a panel and cup-holders appeared, "Sweet add-on's though, nice open top... definitely gonna have to do somethin about the color," shouting in surprise as the speeder shot into the night sky after the tracking signal on Cade's remote, the former Jedi glanced at Kaz and said, "I'm a nervous passenger Halcyon - you sure you can handle this thing?" shouting as they dodged past a line of hover-trucks, Cade said, "Hey we don't want to end up dead! And what if they've got grunts watchin the haulers?! We don't want them to see us doin loop-de-loops followin one of their haulers!!" jerking in his seat like it would make the speeder move, Cade said, Get in the passin lane stang it!"

Cade was, as ever, a side-seat driver.

Deliah, What the hell is goin' on in the engine room? Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?

"So you're saying that Imperial Policy was to slowly replace every idea with a slightly worse idea? Yeah, I think that's what I was getting at too." Kaz chuckled to himself as his companion proved his point for him. "Kyle Katarn should have been a Corellian. Just too organized for the Force to bless him with such a grand reward that time around I guess. As for Nihl... I don't have reason to believe the One Sith would go out of their way on a failed project either. Especially one that old that was dropped by a lone gunman."

"If you'd finished your training you'd be able to assuage her suspicions with a wave of your hand... though that would be terribly immoral of you."

Krayt was an idiot. The reason was the same though Kaz had a slightly different point of view on it but... "I agree. The purely self-assured, I believe deluded is the proper word, often waste opportunity." That the workers under Krayt were more put together than he'd ever been was little surprise. Palpatine's minions had all been far more dangerous than he himself as well, that was what came of sending others to do ones dirty work. They got the experience, the learning curve, the killer instinct. There was only a matter of time before Nihl fell into the same trap and was replaced by a younger, more active subordinate who would then repeat the process. "Very sad."

Kaz kept them a little ways back from the hauler but still hot dogged it back and forth in traffic, even pulling the occasional maneuver for no apparent reason. "It belongs to a very unmasculine owner. Besides, this will make a fine way to sneak into the target location." The Corellian slolomed around a hover truck that had been minding its own business, getting a loud honk in return. The grin on his face was pure amusement. "I'm actually a horrible pilot, thanks for asking, and flying terrifies me. Fortunately, this is just driving. I used to race speeders for fun when I was a kid, especially swoops." The wide green eyes he turned on Cade were just that shade of crazed one needed to be a decent swoop pilot. "Especially swoops. Besides, in a paint job like this who would be surprised to see it doing loop-de-loops?"

As the trip dragged on, however, Kaz settled the vehicle into a little casual jockeying while the garbage. "The Mandalorians, who you mentioned, are a fascinating group. Perhaps if I hadn't been a Force sensitive... but then they are also terribly grim and doomed to recurring dread fates. Not surprising you wear their armor on that point, in fact."